Jim Clark, assistant general manager of the Blue Jackets, passed through town on Wednesday. I got a chance to interview him at the War Memorial, and here are some of the topicd we covered:

The Crunch's new assistant coach.

The organization has a list of roughly 20-22 people interested in the job. That list will be cut to 7-8 by Monday. Clark is going to Europe on Aug. 7, and the organization hopes to name the assistant by then.

Clark said the candidate pool is a mix of college coaches, major junior coaches, and former AHL coaches. The only name that Clark would confirm for me on the list is former Syracuse player Trent Cull. He said neither Jeff Ware nor Reggie Savage, two other names I tossed out, had expressed interest.

The affiliation extension

Again, citing his departure to Europe in early August, Clark said he hoped to have the Syracuse-Blue Jackets extension wrapped up by then.

Clark admitted that Columbus had received an affiliation proposal from Cleveland, but he said Columbus hadn't made a counterproposal. He said that while listening to Cleveland made sense from a marketing and business standpoint, he still favors remaining in Syracuse from a player development point of view.

"My feeling is the hockey perspective outweighs the business perspective of going to Cleveland,'' Clark said. "There's never been a reason I wanted to leave Syracuse.''

The current affiliation runs through this season. Clark said Columbus would prefer a three-year extension, while Syracuse owner Howard Dolgon wants five. Which means they will probably settle on four.

More free-agent signings

"Right now, unless a name is offered up that knocks my socks off...we're going to be in a standstill situation until training camp,'' Clark said.

(Note: Clark says this to me almost every year around this time. Usually, that is followed by a key signing or two, so stay tuned).

Clark noted the obvious in that the big hole is the loss of defenseman Andy Delmore. I also suggested that apart from Mark Hartigan, who may spend much of the year in Columbus, the team lacks a proven, veteran AHL finisher.

"I think it's a fair analysis,'' he said. "I think our offense right now is questionable. Until decisions are made in training camp as to who stays in Columbus and who doesn't, we're at a little bit of risk on offense and we'll address that at the time.''

Clark said the organization isn't opposed to spending more than six figures on an AHL scorer, much like the deal MVP Donald MacLean earned this summer from Phoenix. Hartigan, if he plays in Syracuse, will make $175,000. But Columbus doesn't want to spend that much on someone who it thinks won't play a lot of games in the NHL.

Along those lines, I wouldn't be surprised to see Hartigan spend at least the start of the season with the Blue Jackets. He certainly has the eye of new Columbus assistant Gary Agnew, who coached Hartigan in Syracuse.

In other player comments, Clark cautioned that goalie Ty Conklin would have to clear NHL waivers to come to the Crunch and he wouldn't be surprised if another team claimed Conklin in that instance.

Clark said he's been playing phone tag with forward Ben Simon. He said the organization has interest in signing Simon, but with Darcy Verot re-upping Clark wasn't sure how Simon would fit in now.

In terms of an enforcer, Clark was pleased with Mike Sgroi at the end of last season. Clark had to choose between Sgroi and Brandon Sugden this summer, and he felt that Sugden deserved the loyalty of another contract.

Clark thought about bringing back defenseman Jeff MacMillan, but his AHL veteran status worked against him. Clark also pondered a deal with blueliner Dustin Wood, but instead decided to sign defenseman Jekabs Redlihs.

And for those who just can't wait, I wrangled a look at the organizational depth chart. Here are the potential Crunch players under contract: